A’bad apparel park 27 garment makers to get land

Over two dozen garment manufacturers in Ahmedabad can finally weave their export plans. In all, 27 companies, mostly Ahmedabad-based, will soon be allotted land in the Ahmedabad Apparel Park, the special economic zone (SEZ) promoted by Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC). Sources familiar with the development said these 27 companies have been selected on the basis of their export performance in the last three years and other criteria. Surprisingly, applications of three major textile players – Jindal, Chiripal’s Nandan Exim and Soma Textiles – have not been considered by the development committee. Sources said Jindal’s application was turned down since the company had submitted a -wrong- balance-sheet. -With the land allotment completed and customs formalities almost done, we expect the SEZ to start production within 8-9 months,- a senior GIDC officer told TOI. Among the 27 companies to be allotted land, eight are from Mumbai and one from New Delhi.wholesale apparel manufacturers Maxwell Industries of Mumbai is so far the biggest investor in the apparel park with proposed investment of Rs 35 crore. The total garment exports from this apparel park are expected to be to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore once it is fully functional. In all, 51 companies had applied for plots in this park, which has been a roller coaster ride for the GIDC. Earlier, it was the Ambika Mills land on which it has come up that became a legal hassle and later an issue pertaining to a corporation road passing through it, which delayed the project. apparel manufacturers india Besides these reasons, this project got entangled in the recent national political fracas over acquisition of agriculture land for SEZs, despite there being no issue of farmland involved.apparel manufacturer The delay in notifying this SEZ had also prompted Chief Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and write to Union commerce minister Kamal Nath for expediting the process. There are 44 plots varying between 1,000 sq m and 3,000 sq m in size in this park. The GIDC has developed the road and other infrastructure over 20 hectares of land in this park.